LMF Generalizations
- The learning experiences that occurred when the person was 50 or older almost all had to with hobbies. From tango to horses to ceramics the learning experiences later in life centered on things that people had been exposed to but perhaps had never actually tried. The one story where Manuel learned to build a website was fun because his website brought in money and he was able to go the Bahamas. Perhaps if he didn’t have to work so hard for it his learning experience may have been more like that of Judy who learned to snorkel on her vacation.
- When the teacher control was at 100% humor played a much larger part in making the learning fun. Of the 14 videos where teacher control was 100% 10 out of 14 said humor was used a lot. Anna referred to how her history teacher was very animated as he spoke. He also used is background in the Peace Corps to add intrigue to his stories.
- When humor was used a lot the enthusiasm by the instructor was also ranked high in 9 out of 10 videos. Cristina the fitness instructor wasn’t even actually participating in the class but the enthusiasm of the instructor made it a fun learning experience. Sue’s science teacher perhaps takes the cake. From making a cheer for the mitochondria to climbing a tree to find an example of symbiosis she demonstrated her enthusiasm for her subject as well as keeping her learners on their toes.
- About 75% of the experiences that had a high competition factor also had significant cooperation involved. Torry describes how she had to work with her group in order to create a car that would go 10 meters in the longest time possible. The size of the group doesn’t seem to matter. Torry’s group was small as was Teressa’s experience with the chopstick/bean game, Lexie’s experience involved her PE class learning archery.
- Of the7 experiences that said teacher intimidation was high, all said their enthusiasm was also high. Dana referred to her teacher as a renaissance man who had much to say about many different topics. While her experience was informal and relaxed Shawn had an extremely intense experience. Within the low teacher intimidation group 34 out of 115 said the teacher’s enthusiasm was low to medium.